1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of electronic commerce, and more particularly, to developing electronic commerce contracts and transactions between multiple participants.
2. Description of the Related Art
Persons and business entities engaged in electronic commerce (e-commerce), often need to create arrangements for transacting business with one another. For example, business arrangements relating to one or more transactions must be negotiated in cases where previously no relationship existed between the transaction participants. In other cases, despite the existence of a business relationship between the transaction participants, terms must be negotiated for each new transaction. Because business climates are subject to rapid and unexpected change, it is desirable to create business arrangements quickly so that transactions can be executed efficiently.
Presently, some online services facilitate transactions by allowing buyers to place electronic bids for commodities. Such online services pre-negotiate the cost of commodities with suppliers and then resell the commodities by accepting bids from buyers. The profits of the online service directly result from the difference between the pre-negotiated supplier price and the price paid by the buyer to purchase the commodity. Thus, bids exceeding the pre-negotiated price are likely to be accepted.
In consequence, although buyers can obtain commodities at advantageous prices, buyers may find themselves at a disadvantage when bidding on commodities. One disadvantage is that the online service is not a neutral third party. Rather, the buyer deals directly with an interested party whose interests are better served when buyers pay the highest price possible.
Another disadvantage of online bidding services stems from the fact that the online service pre-negotiates commodity prices with its supplier. Any negotiation perceived on the part of the buyer is illusory in that the supplier does not change its prices during the bidding process and no robust brokering and/or negotiating takes place between the buyer and the bidding service or the supplier. In consequence, the buyer may pay significantly more than necessary to obtain the desired commodity. Moreover, without any robust negotiation between the transaction participants, the achievement of a mutually beneficial transaction is unlikely.